Protocol vs. No Protocol

Preface:

This post is the first in a series of six posts regarding protocol. Put together, they are really, really long. If you have the reading attention span of a gnat on methamphetamines, then the TL;DR version is this: Protocol exists in nearly every BDSM/Kink partnership, whether occasional play partners to full-fledged TPE relationships. It’s not a question of whether to protocol but whether to add degrees of protocol. There’s also a discussion on why protocol != High-Protocol. If you intend to read all of them in one sitting once published, get some water to hydrate and a snack or two — you’ll need both. Feel free to leave us some comments!

~ angi, g, and mynx.

Protocol: What is it?

Most have heard of protocol, and even if you don’t know what it is [yet], you’ve probably seen it. Protocol is a set of guidelines by which individuals are held accountable for acceptable behaviour and how it is displayed and accounted for. It is, within the context of the BDSM/kink lifestyle, a set of established parameters which dominants and submissives (and derivatives thereof) use to navigate groups and personal relationships.

Note that protocol is not simply greeting a dominant with a title or a submissive behaving in a supplicant manner. Protocol is a set of established guidelines, and part of this may include titles and deference, but that is not the whole of it.